Plot:
Six friends plan a heist to disorient the cops who have arrested the brother of one of the friends, in attempt to clear his name. The problem is that they have no idea how to rob a bank, and they only have a few days to pull it off.

Our thoughts:
We've reviewed a little bit of everything on Film Bizarro, and I have no problems getting into any sort of genre. But I will admit that I was hesitant towards "Bank Roll", perhaps not for any other reason than reading that it seemed inspired by Tarantino's dialogue-heavy style but without the skill that Tarantino has (as much as I don't like him, he can pull off dialogue). There are some filmmakers who inspire independent filmmakers still, and that's people like Tarantino, Kevin Smith, John Carpenter, Lloyd Kaufman, and so on. In general, people who make everyday comedies look to Kevin Smith. Gross-out stupidity look to Lloyd Kaufman. Those who make crime movies often look to Tarantino - it's just how it is, but few can pull it off.

"Bank Roll" doesn't really pull it off. The movie has a decent setup of someone planning to rob a bank, for the sole purpose of proving to the cops who arrested his brother that his brother wasn't behind a robbery. A stupid idea, sure, but it could make for a fun movie. The issue is that the story moves nowhere. We are introduced to the characters early on, and from there we're only sitting through long dialogues and meaningless scenes between them - where the dialogue isn't at all clever or intriguing. Sometimes it's just random jokes being told, at other times it appears that the filmmaker is projecting bland opinions through his character. As for the bank robbery? Well that doesn't even seem to matter in the movie.

The movie is decently shot, they do seem to go a bit heavy on the editing at times (to bring life to otherwise slow, boring scenes?), but the actual shots are fine. The actors might not be praise-worthy, but they are okay too. The issue really seems to be that the actual script isn't worth making a movie out of. They should have at least started the actual heist about halfway through to redeem itself.

I don't think this is a movie worth seeking out. If you stumble upon it in a store, odds are that you see a very misleading cover art for it which seems to suggest a dark, "The Raid"-like action movie, but instead we have a movie that seems to lack the skills of both Tarantino and Kevin Smith, yet has its mind set on making a cross of the two by giving us 90 minutes of dialogue that runs slow with random jokes and small talk. Perhaps it works as good training for the filmmakers, but it doesn't work as entertainment for the viewer.

Positive things:- Not a terrible production on a technical level.

Negative things:- Boring attempt at making a dialogue-driven crime movie.